PDO Thread Lift: Cost, Results and How Long It Lasts

PDO stands for polydioxanone, an absorbable material, and the "threads" sold for aesthetic use in the US are cleared by FDA under the regulation name "Absorbable Polydioxanone Surgical Suture" (product code NEW).

Examples on file include PDO MAXX Threads (K190245, cleared in 2019) and Secret Line up / i-Thread (K240389, cleared in 2024).

Their cleared indication is narrow: "soft tissue approximation where use of absorbable sutures is appropriate."

The procedure marketed as a thread lift is described differently.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) describes a thread lift — it has been called a "lunchtime lift" — as using absorbable, barbed sutures to tighten the face and neck, working by stimulating collagen and mechanically lifting tissue where the barbed sutures are placed.

Those are two different documents: the clearance describes a suture, and the procedure description comes from a professional society.

Both matter when you read a med spa menu, and the gap between them is where this guide spends its time.

"Lifting" (or "cog") and "smoothing" are style names you may meet on a thread menu, but our research did not cover those categories, so we cannot tell you how the styles differ.

What the records do show: the PDO clearances our researchers read sit under one regulation — absorbable polydioxanone surgical suture — cleared for soft tissue approximation.

The lifting idea rests on barbs.

ASPS's description of how a thread lift works names barbed sutures specifically, and FDA's own records include barbed PDO designs — the PDO MAXX clearance covers a "PDS Barbed Suture".

Whatever the style name on the menu, the clearances for several PDO products expressly state the suture is not intended for lifting and supporting tissues.

The only suture our research found cleared for mid-face suspension is not PDO.

Silhouette InstaLift is a 510(k)-cleared absorbable poly(glycolide/L-lactide) suture whose indication is mid-face suspension surgery, to temporarily fixate the cheek sub-dermis in an elevated position (K200140, cleared in 2020).

So the document worth asking for at a consultation is the suture's labeling, which states what the product is cleared for — and, for several products, what it is not.

ASPS's procedure description aims a thread lift at wrinkles, early jowls and sagging skin on the face and neck, with the tightening coming from collagen stimulation and the mechanical lift of the barbs.

That description is the professional society's, not an FDA-cleared indication.

The PDO clearances our researchers read name no jowls, wrinkles or skin laxity; the cleared wording is soft tissue approximation, and several clearances disclaim lifting outright.

Neither document is a clearance to lift a specific feature — ask a practice what evidence backs any area it proposes to treat.

The published evidence our researchers can point to is one recent systematic review.

A 2025 review in Dermatologic Surgery covered 12 studies of absorbable facial thread lifts — 818 patients, covering October 2018 to December 2022, mostly PDO — and found improvement immediately after the procedure in all 12 studies.

Its authors wrote that "in the appropriate patient, thread lifts are immediately effective, and the risk of dangerous complications is low."

Read the review's limits as carefully as its conclusion: follow-up reached at most 2 years, and the authors concluded long-term efficacy data are lacking.

For what results look like, see PDO thread before and after.

Start with what we could not confirm: a national price.

The professional-society and manufacturer sources our researchers read as of October 2026 publish no typical price for PDO thread lifts, and we will not print a number we cannot source.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons' thread lift page describes the procedure but publishes no average cost — the society figure people might anchor on is not there.

A price on a menu, a promotion or a blog post is that seller's number, not a market average.

That makes the quote the product.

Ask for it in writing, and make it state what is included: which areas are treated, how many sutures the plan uses, whether a follow-up or touch-up visit is included, and who will place the threads.

If you plan to pay over time, read how the programs work first: our med spa financing guide covers CareCredit, Cherry and the other plans, with their own terms and conditions.

The honest answer is that the evidence does not establish how long results last.

The 2025 systematic review — the most recent summary our researchers found — documented follow-up of at most 2 years and its authors concluded long-term efficacy data are lacking, so it cannot support any month or year figure.

What the record does show: the sutures are absorbable, ASPS describes two mechanisms (a mechanical lift from the barbs and collagen stimulation), and the review found improvement immediately after the procedure in every study it covered.

How those effects decline over time is a question the review's follow-up window does not answer.

Fixed numbers circulate — "1 to 2 years" is a figure you will see quoted — but neither the review nor any study our researchers found establishes a fixed duration.

If a practice quotes you a duration, ask which study it comes from, what was measured and how long patients were followed.

The procedure's nickname — ASPS notes it is sometimes called a "lunchtime lift" — signals how it is marketed, but a nickname is not a downtime measurement.

We found no study measuring recovery time after a PDO thread lift, and no complication rates we can quote problem by problem.

What the review recorded: complications across the 12 studies were mild, and its authors wrote that the risk of dangerous complications is low — in the appropriate patient.

That phrase is doing real work. "Appropriate patient" is the reviewers' condition, and their conclusion does not define who qualifies; that assessment belongs to a licensed provider who examines you.

Because our researchers found no problem-by-problem rates, the questions to ask a practice are concrete: what recovery looked like for their patients, what complications they have handled and how, and who to contact afterward if something concerns you.

The three approaches do different things.

Filler adds or restores volume under the skin with injectable products, each approved for specific indications named on its label — our dermal fillers guide maps the products to their approved uses.

A thread lift places absorbable sutures that ASPS describes as lifting mechanically and stimulating collagen.

A facelift is surgery.

The price tags on record come from ASPS, and they measure different things.

ASPS lists average costs of $715 for hyaluronic acid fillers and $901 for non-HA fillers (such as Radiesse and Sculptra) per its latest statistics — national average physician fees, not med spa prices.

Its facelift figure is an average surgeon's fee of $11,395; ASPS notes that figure excludes anesthesia, operating-room facilities and other related expenses.

For thread lifts there is no ASPS figure to set beside them and no national price our researchers could confirm — so any "cheaper than a facelift" pitch is not a comparison we can verify.

The results comparison is not settled either: we found no study comparing thread lift results with facelift results, so a claim that they match is marketing, not evidence.

Energy devices are the other comparison, and their paperwork reads differently: Ultherapy and Sofwave hold FDA clearances that use the word "lift" — lifting the eyebrow and lifting lax submental (beneath the chin) and neck tissue — while PDO suture clearances describe soft tissue approximation and several disclaim lifting.

Our Ultherapy guide covers the ultrasound option in detail, and our non-surgical skin tightening comparison covers the device family.

Who may place threads, and under what supervision, is governed by rules that differ state by state.

AmSpa, a med spa trade association, gives the general picture using toxin injections as its example: because they involve prescription drugs affecting living tissue, they are the practice of medicine and must be done by a physician, an independent-practice nurse practitioner or another licensed professional acting within their scope, under rules that vary by state.

States do write rules that name threads.

New Mexico's aesthetic nursing rule lists injection of PDO threads — alongside fillers, neuromodulators, microneedling of any depth and other procedures — among "aesthetic healthcare procedures".

That is one state's list, not a national rule; what applies where you live is worth checking before you book, and our med spa laws guide covers who may inject and who must supervise, state by state.

Titles are not licenses.

Our research found no state-issued "master injector" license; names like that are private or marketing credentials.

FDA's advice to filler patients is a vetting template worth borrowing: choose a licensed provider experienced in dermatology or plastic surgery and trained to inject fillers, make sure products come properly labeled and sealed, and never buy fillers sold directly to the public or self-inject.

For a thread lift specifically, ask which suture brand the practice uses, ask to see that product's cleared labeling, ask who places the threads and what license they hold, and who to call afterward.

Our 10-point checklist covers the full vetting, and our injector credentials guide explains what RN, NP, PA and MD mean at a med spa.